


Changed Locks

by katling



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, It's implied the rest of Steve Roger's team is there, Locks have indeed been changed, Not Steve Friendly, Not Wanda Friendly, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), The Author is Salty, not team Cap friendly, they just don't say anything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-24
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-03-08 21:11:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13466619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katling/pseuds/katling
Summary: In his letter to Tony, Steve Rogers said, "Locks can be replaced, but – maybe they shouldn’t."When the Rogue Avengers return to the US after being pardoned by the US government, they find that the locks have been replaced... and they no longer have the key.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am still salty and bitter. What can I say? The MCU gave us so much to be bitter and salty about.
> 
> In this, the ExVengers have been pardoned but only by the US government. Everyone else still wants them strung up. 
> 
> Also, I have no idea if the Department of Homeland Security would have a base in Wisconsin. I just like the name and I know they get a lot of snow in winter.

Steve stepped off the Wakandan jet with a sigh of relief and eyed the Compound with a small smile. It had been two years since what the media had termed the ‘Avengers’ Civil War’ and this was the first time they’d been back on US soil since then. But the threat of Thanos had caused the US government to issue them with full pardons and now they were back. Steve was just disappointed that Tony hadn’t called to ask for their help. Given the level of threat that this Thanos posed, it seemed almost selfish of him.

“It’s good to be home,” Sam said, coming up to stand beside him and clap him on the shoulder.

Before Steve could respond, the door to the nearest Compound building opened and a young man came hurrying out. The man was in a neat, tailored suit and was carrying a tablet. As he got nearer, they saw that he was probably in his late twenties or early thirties and he had blond hair and blue eyes. He came to a halt in front of them and gave a small jerk of a bow.

“Guten Morgen,” he said before giving a small shake of his head and correcting himself in English. “Good morning. My name is Dieter Weber. I am one of the UN’s Avenger Liaisons. May I ask your purpose in coming here? There was nothing on the schedule.”

Steve frowned. “The US government pardoned us. We’re back.”

Weber looked confused for a moment, frowning as he tapped on his tablet. Then his expression cleared. “Ah, yes, I see. You’ve come to the wrong place.”

“What?” Steve said. It was immediately echoed by similar sentiments from the others, who had now come up beside and behind him.

“This is the Avengers Compound,” Weber said with a small nod. “According to the paperwork we received last week, you are to be housed by the Department of Homeland Security at a base in Wisconsin. I have sent the coordinates to your pilot.”

Steve’s frown deepened at the man’s almost dismissive tone and he could hear discontented mutterings coming from the others. “We’re Avengers and this is our home.”

Weber frowned again then he suddenly seemed to realise what was going on. “Ah, my apologies.”

Steve relaxed, sure that the problem had been solved and they could finally get back to their rooms and settle in.

“We thought that King T’Challa had been keeping you up to date on the changes that have occurred,” Weber continued and Steve’s feeling of relaxation disappeared. 

“What do you mean?” he asked. He did have some vague memories of T’Challa talking about the Avengers and the Compound but he hadn’t really paid attention. He’d known it was only a matter of time before they’d be pardoned and come back. Then things would go back to normal and he’d be back in charge so it didn’t matter what changes had been made. He would just change them back.

“The Compound is owned by the United Nations,” Weber said slowly, as though he was talking to someone a bit stupid. Steve would have felt offended but the man continued and he was distracted by what he was saying. “It was sold to the United Nations by Stark Industries a little over a year ago when we decided to establish a permanent base for Avengers in the United States.”

“So?” Clint said, sounding impatient.

“So, you are not Avengers,” Weber said calmly.

There was an explosion of protests and complaints. Weber looked unmoved and, as they continued, utterly unimpressed. Steve finally waved the other silent.

“We are Avengers,” he stated staunchly.

“The Avengers Initiative’s name, brand and organisational structure...” Weber paused then continued dryly, “or lack thereof… was taken over by the United Nations six weeks after the… Civil War. The Avengers Initiative now exists as a non-governmental organisation or NGO under the auspices of the United Nations and the only Avengers are those with individual contracts with the Avengers Initiative.”

“So what the fuck are we then?” Clint demanded. “Chopped liver?”

Weber smiled faintly. “I am uncertain as to what title the Department of Homeland Security will give you but as you have only been pardoned by government of the United States and not any other country, I’m sure it will be relevant for the United States, at least.”

That silenced them all and Steve frowned again. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean that only the United States has pardoned you,” Weber said patiently. “Thus, your pardons are only relevant and valid on US soil. None of the declarations of being personae non gratae by other countries nor any of the pending charges in the ICC have been revoked.” He shrugged. “However, under the circumstances, as long as you remain in the United States and do not cause trouble for the rest of the world, I suspect that no requests for extradition will be made at this time.”

As Weber had been talking a blonde woman had been striding towards them and she joined Weber just in time to hear the last part of what he’d said.

“Hello, I’m Colonel Carol Danvers, Head of the US branch of the Avengers Initiative. I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong place, Mr Rogers.”

Her expression was calm and bland and even faintly unimpressed and it was the last straw for Steve.

“Where’s Tony?” he demanded.

Carol cocked her head quizzically. “Why do you want to know?”

“I want to sort this out.”

Carol now frowned. “Mr Stark can’t help you with that, Mr Rogers. He does not own the Compound nor does he run the Avengers Initiative. While he might be able to make a personal appeal under some circumstances, the rules regarding entry to the Compound are absolute. Only those employed by the Avengers Initiative are permitted to reside here. This is for the safety and security of those living and working here.” She gestured towards the jet. “Now I’m going to have to ask you all to board your jet. I understand your pilot now has the correct coordinates. Your liaison from Homeland Security is waiting, somewhat impatiently, for you at your destination.”

Steve wanted to protest but there was something about Carol that was both implacable and slightly dangerous. It made him think that if he pushed this, not only would he lose badly, he would come to regret it in many different ways later on. It was utterly galling but he turned on his heel and gestured to the others.

“Come on,” he muttered. “We’ll play along with their farce and contact Tony later and make him sort this out.”

The others scowled but obediently climbed onto the jet. The door closed behind them and the pilot took off with what Steve considered was undue haste. He watched the Compound recede from view and clutched at the phone in his pocket. Tony _would_ sort this out or there’d be hell to pay. He’d make sure of _that_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's team has his back. Or to put it another way... impromptu movie night!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys! You make me blush. You also motivate me. So here's a second chapter. No confrontation in this chapter. This one is looking at Tony and how he gets along with his new team. I hope you enjoy it. I certainly giggled quite a bit writing it.

“Boss?”

“Yeah, FRI?” Tony didn’t look up from the soldering he was doing on the boot of his latest suit. He’d received a hit to it during their last fight, which had been against large, green, gelatinous blobs who’d had the alarming tendency to lash out with long, green, gelatinous tentacles, and the repairs had been trickier than he’d expected. He also wondered what his life had come to when the idea of large, green, gelatinous blobs didn’t seem all that out of the ordinary. 

“Colonel Danvers is on the phone.”

Now Tony _did_ look up. He knew what this phone call was about. FRIDAY had warned him about today’s return of his former teammates and the fact that they’d seemed to be slightly off course. “Put her through.”

“Tony?”

“Hey, Carol. How’s things?”

“They’re _idiots_.”

Tony chuckled. “And you thought I was kidding.”

“Well, I didn’t think you were kidding,” Carol replied. “Just that maybe your well justified dislike of them was making you magnify things a little bit out of proportion. But no. You’re absolutely one hundred percent correct. They’re idiots.”

“How did they manage to convince you of that in such a short time?” Tony asked with amused curiosity.

“You mean apart from the fact that they haven’t been paying attention to anything that’s been going on at the UN regarding the Accords and that they genuinely think that they’re still Avengers?” she said.

“Well, yeah, apart from that because that was utterly predictable,” Tony replied. “Besides, T’Challa had already told us he was pretty sure everything he was saying to them was going in one ear and out the other and not touching anything in between.”

“They demanded to speak to you so they could make you fix everything.”

Tony was silent for a moment as a big grin grew on his face. “I believe the correct phrase right now is ante up. I _told_ you they were the biggest bunch of self-righteous, spoiled toddlers masquerading badly as adults and the first sign of opposition to what they wanted would result in a tantrum where they’d demand I fix everything.”

Carol sighed. “You were so, _so_ right. Mind you, Dieter was handling them beautifully even before I showed up. I’d have let him continue on his own but I started to get the niggling feeling they might push him aside and barge their way in. Barton and Maximoff had that look about them. I didn’t want Dieter getting hurt.”

“Yeah, I’d believe that of those two,” Tony said sourly. “So, you shooed them off to Wisconsin, land of cheese and snow?”

“Yep,” Carol said, sounding a little more cheerful. “But I suspect you’re going to be hearing from them sooner rather than later.”

“Of _course_ I am,” Tony said dryly. “What fun.”

“I’ve asked Deadpool to keep an eye on things,” Carol said and he could hear her grin in the tone of her voice.

“You must _really_ hate Rogers,” Tony said with a laugh. “The Pool man is going to drive him up the frigging wall.”

“It couldn’t happen to a nicer fellow,” Carol said tartly.

There was a sudden thump against one of the narrow horizontal windows high up in the workshop walls and Tony turned to see Deadpool’s masked faced smushed up against the glass. 

“Speak of the devil.”

“Oh, is Matt there, too?” Carol said innocently.

Tony paused for a moment. “Carol? Did you call _all_ of the New York based Avengers and tell them to keep an eye on me?”

“Of course not,” Carol said, her attempt at indignation completely ruined by the laughter rippling through her voice. “Peter has school.”

Tony sighed but he couldn’t have been annoyed even if he tried. His new team… well, not _his_ new team, the new team which he was a part of was such a marked difference to the old team that it was hardly worth even calling the old team a _team_ at all. Bruce had been right. They’d been nothing more than an explosive mixture just waiting to blow up.

Where his old ‘team’ had sidelined him and demanded his money and resources without either please or thanks, ran him down and accused him of trying to take over the world or blow it up or whatever bee they had in their bonnet on any particular day, his new team liked him, supported him and, wonder of wonders, actually listened to him. And not just to his ramblings but to his worries and concerns. 

When he’d gingerly mentioned New York to them and what he’d seen through the portal, Carol had been immediately concerned and had made waves at the UN to begin some sort of global response. He’d been almost stunned silent at not only Carol’s support but everyone else’s as well. 

His new team had taught him what a team should actually be. He liked it and there was no way in hell he was ever letting things go back to the way they had been. Which had been part of the reason why he’d fought so hard to introduce a proper management structure, chain of command and review and complaints process into the Avengers Initiative. Never again would one person be able to make all the decisions about what happened. 

That it also meant that _he_ couldn’t arbitrarily make decisions either, well, sure, it was annoying sometimes when he wanted to move quickly but right now, the thought of it just made him grin. Because no matter what Rogers and his merry pack of idiots wanted, Tony quite _literally_ couldn’t do it. His hands were tied and no amount of demands and tantrums could change it. The ExVengers were about to learn that he _didn’t_ actually have the ability run the world. He was sure they’d be terribly disappointed.

“How long before Jessica turns up to eat me out of house and home?” he asked with good-natured resignation.

“She just needs to pick up Luke first,” Carol replied.

Tony couldn’t hold back his laughter anymore. “Carol, you’re a trip.”

“I am a concerned leader looking out for the welfare of my team,” she said with prim amusement. “Besides, Luke wants to talk to you about that youth outreach idea you two were tossing around last week.”

Tony perked up at that. Last week they’d been discussing some personal projects Luke had in mind that he’d brought to Tony because they were more down a path where he could personally help. Luke wanted to open up better STEM opportunities, not just at school but afterwards, at college and in the workforce, to try and overcome some of the systemic disadvantages that black kids from impoverished neighbourhoods faced. Tony had been very enthusiastic about it, babbling and flailing his hands, until Luke had finally waved him silent with a look that said ‘you’re an idiot but I like you anyway’. He got that sort of look from Rhodey all the time.

“Cool,” he said happily. “You know, I could almost forget what this is all about.”

“Come on,” Carol said. “You can’t tell me you don’t want to see Rogers have to deal with Deadpool or let Jessica loose on Maximoff.”

Tony felt he probably shouldn’t snicker at that, that he should try and be a better man but he couldn’t be bothered. Jessica and Deadpool had been the ones who’d reacted the strongest when he’d told them about everything that had happened from the fall of SHIELD to the media-styled ‘civil war’. Jessica had hit the roof when Maximoff’s rampant use of mind control had come up and her subsequent rant had been a thing of beauty. FRIDAY had recorded it and every now and then they played it again so they could all admire it and tease Jess about it.

Tony hadn’t _quite_ figured out why Deadpool was so pissed off. He could usually follow the thin thread of sanity in Deadpool’s brand of crazy but this one seemed to run in several different directions all at the same time so it was hard to pin down. He was pretty sure betrayal had something to do with it and, if he’d followed part of the thread correctly, then the stupidity of offering yourself up for experimentation and thinking you’re superior because of it was also in there as well. It raised a few questions about precisely what had happened to Deadpool but Tony hadn’t bothered asking. Crazy or not, Deadpool was very adept at avoiding answering questions when he wanted to be but if you were patient, he’d often tell you anyway.

“No, you’re right,” he said. “I absolutely want to see both of those things.”

Carol chuckled. “Then stop complaining. I’m providing you with back up and entertainment. Aren’t I a great team leader?”

“You’re the best, boss,” Tony dutifully replied before he started snickering again. “Are you going to warn Homeland Security that their new little ducklings are likely to do some unauthorised wandering?”

“Yep,” Carol replied. “I’m going to do that, finish off my paperwork then I’m coming over. We’re having a team movie night, Tony. I thought I’d better tell you that.”

“After everyone’s already on their way,” Tony replied. “I see through your nefarious plan, Danvers.” He paused. “Pizza, Thai or Chinese?”

“Chinese. _All_ the Chinese.”

“You got it.”

“See you soon, Tony.”

“Bye.”

Tony waved a hand to end the call. He looked at his boot then shrugged and set it aside. It could wait. He had a couple of back up suits if trouble occurred so the repair wasn’t urgent.

He was startled out of his thoughts by another knock on his window and looked up to find Deadpool’s butt smushed against his window now. Thankfully, it was clothed. That was really quite restrained for Deadpool and Tony figured he must be excited about the idea of telling Rogers exactly what he thought of him. 

He tossed a piece of scrap metal at the window and when Deadpool turned around and flipped him the bird, he pointed up in the direction of the penthouse. Deadpool made a heart out of both hands and disappeared from view. Tony stared at the windows then decided not to find out how Deadpool had been clinging to the side of his building. He’d learned there were some things a man was just not meant to know and most of those things revolved around Deadpool.

He shook his head and grinned then headed for the elevator. He had a team coming over for movies and food. Tonight was going to be a good night.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rogers and his merry band of idiots head to New York, whereupon Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and Deadpool kind of spike their plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure I did Deadpool and Jessica justice in this chapter but I realised that Carol and Tony probably would have reminded them that in order to stay on the right side of the Accords and therefore not open themselves up to accusations of bias or whatever, they couldn't be the ones to throw the first punch, no matter how much they wanted to. So, in the wake of that decision, this chapter kind of shifted in a direction that I wasn't entirely expecting.

It took Steve three days to come up with a plan that would get them out of Wisconsin and over to New York without their government-issued babysitter being any the wiser and most of that time had been taken up with the question of how to get there without having access to the quinjet as they were used to. Wanda had volunteered to take care of the babysitter and when they finally left the shabby base they were stuck in, the man was staring off into nothing. Steve was a bit worried but he trusted Wanda so he was sure the man would be alright once they got back.

Natasha had gotten her hands on the keys for one of the base’s vans and it took Scott only a couple of minutes to disable the LoJack so they couldn’t be traced. After that, there was only the tedious mile after mile of driving. But at least with all of them there, they could drive through the night, even if sleeping in the van wasn’t very comfortable.

By the time they reached New York and had battled their way through the city’s interminable traffic, they were all tired, cramped and determined to make Tony see sense. This was all completely ridiculous, that they had to go through this sort of rigmarole just to speak to the man.

The Tower was as imposing and ostentatious as ever when they walked up to it and Steve frowned when he saw that huge A had been taken down and replaced with Stark once again. Why had Tony decided to erase any mention of the Avengers here in New York? That A had been a reminder of their heroics during the Chitauri invasion and that the Avengers would always be there for the people of New York.

Steve was still shaking his head about it when they walked into the foyer and over to the private elevator. No one tried to stop them and only Natasha noticed one of the security guards speaking into his comm unit. But when the guard made no move to do anything else, even she shrugged and just assumed that Tony had succumbed to the inevitable. The elevator took them swiftly up to the top of the Tower but when the door opened, they weren’t on Tony’s floor or any of the other floors they knew. They had instead been deposited on an empty floor that was clearly in the middle of being renovated and instead of Tony greeting them with a smile and quip, there were three people they’d never seen before.

Standing over to one side was a man wearing a red all-encompassing suit, complete with mask. He had two swords crossed on his back and two handguns in holsters on his hips. He was the only one wearing any kind of costume or weaponry. Standing next to the costumed man was a woman with long dark hair and the most unfriendly expression Steve had ever seen in his life. The woman was glaring at Wanda, who had shifted slightly behind Clint in response. The third man was leaning against one of the concrete support poles, his arms crossed over his chest. He was black and wearing jeans and a t-shirt and his expression was a cross between amused and resigned.

Steve stepped forward and frowned at them. “What’s going on? Who are you and where’s Tony?”

“Oooh, the Cap voice,” the costumed man said, clapping his hands together. “You know, I was going to call myself Captain Deadpool but it seemed a little ostentatious to go around claiming a title I wasn’t entitled to, eh, Cap?” The costumed man turned to one side and started acting like he was talking to people who weren’t actually there. “Hah! That was a good one, right? We all saw his origin story. Less than a week in a non-military boot camp does not a Captain make.”

“What?” Steve’s frown deepened and he looked at the other two.

The woman ignored him and continued to glare at Wanda but the man just raised his hands and shook his head. “Hey, I’m just here because someone decided there needed to be a responsible adult involved.” Then the man sobered and turned serious. “Though I would like to know why you’re here.”

“We need to talk to Tony,” Steve said.

“Why?”

“That’s none of your business,” Steve snapped. “I don’t even know who you are.”

“I’m Luke Cage. That’s Jessica Jones. And the lunatic in red is Deadpool. Now, why do you need to speak to Tony?”

“He needs to stop messing around and let us back into the Compound,” Steve said, getting frustrated. “This petulant display needs to stop.”

“Ha!” Deadpool’s sudden shout made all of Steve’s group jump though neither Jessica nor Luke even batted an eyelid. “I told you!” Deadpool continued. “They did _not_ do the research.”

“Tony has no control over who gets into the Compound,” Luke said flatly. “You’ve already been told that at least twice that I know of and it was definitely in the information you were given when you arrived at your new home.”

“Hey,” Deadpool said, nudging Jessica with one hand. He kept poking and nudging at her as he continued, “Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.”

“ _What?_ ” Jessica finally said with some exasperation.

“Do you think if I turned Cappy here into a shishkabob, he’d heal as quickly as I do?”

Steve’s eyes widened and he shifted into a more defensive stance. He could hear the other doing the same behind him.

“Are you crazy?” he demanded.

Deadpool cocked his head to one side and struck a thoughtful pose. “Eh, the jury’s out but the verdict is probably guilty as charged.” He straightened up again. “But hey! That’s what happens when you let yourself be experimented on, eh, Cappy? You go nuts. I have, you have and Miss Witchy Bitchy there has as well.”

“I’m not crazy!” Steve snapped.

“Oh, _sure_ , you’re not,” Deadpool said with exaggerated understanding then he said in an apparent sotto voce aside that was easily heard by everyone. “He totally is. Even _Chris Evans_ is Team Iron Man.”

“There’s nothing for you here,” Luke said, stepping forward. “I suggest you leave before you’re removed.”

“We’re not leaving without talking to Tony,” Steve said stubbornly.

“Ooooh!” Deadpool said, jumping up and down with obvious glee. “Does that mean we can remove them? Can we?”

“Yeah, can we?” Jessica said in a deadly tone. “Because I’ve got dibs on throwing out the witch. Eventually.” 

Wanda edged further behind Clint and clutched at his arm. “Why does she hate me?” she whined.

“Because you’re a mind raping HYDRA bitch who deserves to get your ass kicked,” Jessica said flatly. She jerked her head in Clint’s direction. “How long have you been mind controlling that one? Did Loki’s messing around make it easier for you?”

Jessica’s tone was blunt and flat, as though she wasn’t speculating but was instead stating something she knew to be an absolute fact. In response, almost as if she was surprised that someone knew what she was doing, Wanda took several moments too long to start protesting her innocence. Long enough for Clint to realise what the overly long pause must mean. 

Clint jerked away from Wanda and then stumbled away from Rogers’ group entirely. His eyes were wide with horror. “What the _fuck_?” he all but screamed at Wanda. “Are you _mind controlling_ me?”

Once again, Wanda hesitated for just a fraction too long, as though she was struggling to come up with a plausible lie.

Much later, Luke would comment that it was just as well Rogers’ group had come unarmed otherwise Maximoff would have had an arrow through her forehead right then. He would then say very dryly that maybe that would have solved a lot of problems. But right then and there, he was more focused on the sudden prospect of imminent violence in the room.

Luke stepped forward. “Rogers,” he said in a low, dark tone. “Get your people the fuck out of here.”

Rogers looked like he wanted to protest but then came the steely sound of Deadpool’s katanas being drawn and he gave a curt nod. “Let’s go,” he said to his group.

“The fuck I’m going with _you_ ,” Clint snarled then he took three long steps over to stand near Luke.

It was Jessica who moved in front of Clint when Rogers looked like he wanted to protest.

“Take your mind raping HYDRA bitch and get the fuck out,” she said, coldly angry and all the more dangerous for it.

When Rogers’ group still looked reluctant to leave without Clint, Deadpool cocked his head. “On the count of three…” He brandished his katanas. “One… two... and three!”

Deadpool suddenly rushed towards them and they scrambled back into the elevator, the doors closing just in time. 

“Awww, _nuts_!” they heard bellowed from the other side of the door before the lift began to descend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Google Maps tells me that it takes roughly 15 hours, give or take, to drive nonstop from Wisconsin (I used Madison as a reference point) to New York. So, yes, they have been missed and they are in a world of trouble for leaving without permission. That is also why Tony's team was primed and ready for them when they arrived. Once the Homeland Security people realised they were gone, they called Carol and told her that the rogues were probably heading for New York.
> 
> I usually let the rogues be responsible for their own actions and not pass it off to Wanda mind controlling them but that usually means I have to reduce Clint's motive to "Clint is a raving idiot who ditched his wife and kids for Captain America" and, you know, I _liked_ what we saw of Clint in Thor and The Avengers (well, when he wasn't mind controlled by Loki) and I'm annoyed they completely massacred his character in AoU and CW. So I'm giving him the slightest sliver of a chance for redemption in this fic. I'm also giving him more of a brain than he seemed to possess in AoU and CW.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, I can't seem to leave this one alone. This is set several hours after the previous chapter and I decided I needed Tony and Rhodey being... well, Tony and Rhodey. Also, there's already been some fallout and they talk about it a bit.
> 
> They've got Clint essentially 'quarantined' until they find out how bad things are in his head. Clint's pretty okay with that and he's mostly bitching about Wanda and Steve right now.

Tony frowned as he looked through the window into the… large, comfortable playpen that was the Hulk Room and watched Clint pace and gesticulate as he talked to himself.

“What the hell am _I_ supposed to do with him?”

Rhodey sighed and shrugged. “I don’t know, man. But he won’t leave. You’ve watched the video of what happened. Can you blame him?”

Tony made a discontented noise then sighed. “No, I suppose not. But I still don’t know what _I’m_ supposed to do with him. He’s not an Avenger. He’s tied up in the pardon deal. I’ve… well, Carol’s already got Homeland Security bitching about sending him back.”

Rhodey was silent for a moment. “So why not do it? Send him back. He’s not _your_ problem.”

Tony snorted. “Send him back into the witch’s clutches? Are you mad?”

Rhodey immediately grinned at him and Tony scowled and punched him in the arm. Rhodey snorted and shook his head.

“You can punch better than that,” he said with a grin.

“Yeah, but I’m not going to.” Tony gave a huff. “I still don’t know what I’m supposed to do with him.”

“Maybe start with letting Xavier loose on him?” Rhodey suggested. “Someone has to check and see how much damage Wanda’s done.”

Tony shuddered. “Yeah, good point. FRI?”

“Yes, boss?”

“Can you give Professor Xavier a call and ask him for a consultation? Give him the details and let him see the video if he needs some more persuasion. Tell him we can bring Clint to him but I’d prefer that he come to us, if he can.”

“You got it, boss.”

Tony stared at Clint for a moment. “Has Jessica calmed down at all?”

“That depends on your definition of calmed down,” Rhodey said dryly. “She still wants to rip Wanda’s spine out with her bare hands but she’s not talking about going to Wisconsin to do it anymore.”

“That’s an improvement. You know she could probably do it,” Tony said with open admiration. “She’s pretty awesome.”

Rhodey chuckled. “Yeah, I know she could but it wouldn’t really be a good look.”

“True.” Tony clasped his hands behind his back and rocked back and forth on his heels for a moment. “How’s Carol doing?”

“Looking for an extra-large bottle of Tylenol and some Tums,” Rhodey said.

Tony hummed. “I’m pretty sure we have both of those.”

“Yeah, FRIDAY gave her directions.”

Tony hummed again. He paused for a moment then finally asked the question he’d been dying to ask. “So, how badly have they fucked up?”

Rhodey’s grin was wide, bright and just faintly malicious. “Pretty damn badly. They’re not supposed to leave the base without prior approval, which would normally be given pretty easily if they wanted to… you know, go shopping or visit family or friends. But they didn’t even bother asking.”

“Well,” Tony said philosophically. “They were never very good at doing that.”

“Mmhmm,” Rhodey said. “The agent Wanda mind-fucked has already been taken to Xavier’s place. The Professor has said that he can probably restore the man’s mind but that there will be some permanent damage.”

“That’s not going to be good for Wanda,” Tony said, sounding utterly unconcerned.

“Nope,” Rhodey said smugly. “She’s already been given an ultimatum. She either goes to Xavier’s for training and rehabilitation or she gets her powers bound and gets cut loose.”

“Has she made a choice?”

Rhodey snorted. “No. She’s too busy having a tantrum. She’s got three days to give them an answer or they’ll take the cut her loose option.”

“ _Shame_ ,” Tony said with massive insincerity. “What about the others? Oh, wait. Who would be her trainer at Xavier’s?”

Rhodey paused somewhat dramatically. “Logan.”

Tony burst out laughing. “Oh man. Now I _really_ hope she chooses to do that. She’d get the shock of her life.”

Rhodey laughed. “That she would. Logan wouldn’t buy her poor little me act for one second.”

“And good luck to her trying to screw around in his mind,” Tony added. 

Xavier had once told them that Logan was surprisingly resilient to mental attacks. A combination of his mutation, the metal that covered almost all of his skeleton and Xavier’s own bolstering meant that it would take someone with more strength and skill than Wanda had to mess with his mind. That was why, after a lengthy conversation with Logan, Tony had allowed Xavier to remove the traces of Wanda’s magic from his own mind and add some protections to it. 

Xavier had then made a record of what he’d found in Tony’s mind. The Professor had wanted to make her actions public but Tony had asked him not to… or had asked him to hold it in abeyance for possible future use. Tony was done coddling Wanda and if holding the proverbial sword of Damocles over her head was what it took to get her to behave then he was fresh out of care for how ‘unfair’ she might find it.

“So, the others?” he asked.

“Restricted to base,” Rhodey replied. “With three times the guards and warnings that one more foot out of line and the pardons will be revoked.”

Tony raised a dubious eyebrow. “Would the President actually do that?”

Rhodey’s resulting smirk was a thing of beauty and Tony turned to face him completely. “He will now that the public are turning against Rogers and his lot.”

“Sugarplum? What have you done?”

“ _Me_?” Rhodey affected a look of innocence. “I’ve done nothing. Deadpool, on the hand, is crazy and reckless and impetuous and has that weird ass crush on Pete. He was recording what happened and he gave the footage to Peter as a present. Pete did what any incensed teenager with a lack of impulse control would do.”

Tony opened his mouth and raised one finger. Then he closed his mouth and lowered his hand. Then he pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head, muttering soft curses under his breath.

Rhodey patted his shoulder. “There, there.”

“There’s so much in that, I’m not sure what to deal with first.” Tony sighed. “Deadpool’s crush?”

“Pepper has it under control,” Rhodey replied soothingly. “She threatened Deadpool with her shoes if he does anything, even just _says_ something, that makes Peter uncomfortable.” He paused. “Then Happy got to him and reminded him that Peter may be almost eighteen but he is still a _minor_ , Deadpool is an _adult_ and if he does or says anything before Peter turns twenty-one, Happy will cheerfully re-enact the myth of Prometheus on Deadpool and see how good his healing factor really is.”

Tony blinked. “And Deadpool’s reaction?”

“He might be crazy but he’s sure as hell not stupid. He’s behaving.” Rhodey snorted. “To be perfectly honest, I don’t think it’s really a crush anyway. Deadpool has a pretty decent set of ethics and morals for a crazy man who’d happily turn an enemy into mincemeat. Literally. I think he’s just like the rest of us and thinks Peter is utterly adorable and his protectiveness comes out in strange, slightly inappropriate ways. You know, like most of what Deadpool says and does. Remember what he said to the mayor?”

Tony shuddered and facepalmed. “I’m trying not to.”

Rhodey clapped him on the shoulder. “It’s alright. It only took three days of meetings and a press conference to clear that up.”

“Thanks, honeybear,” Tony said dryly. “Do I want to know what Pete did?”

“Edited the video and plastered it all over the internet,” Rhodey replied. “People are already making memes about it.”

Tony sighed and grimaced. “I suppose there’s no point saying anything to him?”

Rhodey snorted. “Nope. That kid adores you, Tones. And he’s never forgiven Rogers for what he did in Siberia. I mean, you _could_ say something to him and I’m sure he’ll look all contrite and he’ll bat his big puppy eyes at you and you’ll cave – as you _always_ do – and pat him on the head and tell him everything’s okay.”

“I do _not_ always cave to Pete’s puppy eyes,” Tony said indignantly.

Rhodey gave him a sceptical look. “Uh, yeah, you do.” Tony pouted and Rhodey wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “It’s okay, Tones. It’s pretty hard to resist them. I think only Pepper is actually immune to them.”

Tony was about to answer when FRIDAY spoke up. “Boss? Professor Xavier would like to speak to you.”

Tony sighed. “Duty calls.” He jerked a thumb towards Clint. “Keep an eye on him, okay?”

“You got it,” Rhodey said and Tony headed out the door, muttering under his breath about how he _wasn’t_ susceptible Peter’s puppy eyes, he really _wasn’t_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, Deadpool is not being inappropriate with Peter (he's better than that. Deadpool's not a douche. Well, not that kind of douche.) He's just overprotective of Peter because Peter is adorable.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael Theodore officially hates his life. Wisconsin is just fine but the rest of it just sucks enormously. Until a pretty black jet arrives with people who make his life suck a whole lot less.
> 
> Or to put it another way, what's happening in Wisconsin?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Michael is something of an... well, perhaps an unreliable narrator. He's been put in a job he doesn't like, overseeing people he doesn't like, and he hates his life. So he's got a very jaundiced outlook on the Rogues.

Michael Theodore officially hated his life. It was a new thing, this hating his life. In fact, it had only come into being in the last few days, since he’d taken over as the liaison for and manager of the pardoned ExVengers. 

(They still needed to come up with a better name for them than that. ExVengers was too clunky and besides, it implied that they could possibly be Avengers again and Michael knew _that_ wasn’t happening, especially now. He’d also vetoed the Rogues and the Scavengers… though that last one _had_ made him snicker a bit.)

Individually, Rogers’ lot weren’t that bad. Well, except for Maximoff, who gave him the willies – especially after what had happened to his predecessor – and Rogers himself, who was so stubborn it was like talking to a brick wall… and frankly the man was about as _edifying_ as a brick wall too. Michael was pretty sure he’d had more intelligent conversations with his vegetable garden.

But Wilson could at least be reasoned with, even if the man did have his head shoved so far up Rogers’ backside, it was a wonder he could still breathe. And Lang, though oddly stupid for a man with his academic qualifications, could be given directions and they could be reasonably sure he’d follow them. 

Romanov was a bit of a wild card but Michael had figured how to handle her on the morning of his second day as liaison. Give her a reason why it was good for _her_ to do something and she’d do it. She was, quite honestly, the most selfish person he’d ever met and he had a three year old at home so he’d know. At least his three year old didn’t know any better and could be taught. Romanov was a grown woman. She had no excuse for her behaviour.

He’d been glad to lose Barton, though he was still obliged to put up a token fight for the man. But honestly, Danvers’ lot and more importantly Danvers’ connections were probably better suited to handling the clusterfuck that Barton had turned into. Hell, it was Danvers who had given him the contact number for the person who was going to come and deal with Maximoff. Professor Xavier had been marvellously soothing when he’d called and explained the problem and had promised to come as soon as he could, which proved to be today, which was why Michael was standing near the makeshift landing field, freezing to death and hating his life.

He hated his life just a little less when the sleek black jet came into view and landed in front of him but only because it was impossible to look at such a magnificent craft and completely hate your life. He wasn’t quite sure why the man in the wheelchair looked amused when he emerged from the jet but he also wasn’t terribly concerned either. It was, quite frankly, nice to be dealing with someone who wasn’t frowning or scowling or grouching or swearing.

“Professor Xavier?” he said as he walked forward. He glanced briefly at the Professor’s companions and then fought hard not to stare at them because they were the two most mismatched people he’d seen in a long time. The woman was tall and elegant, her white hair contrasting with her dark skin. She gave him a contained smile and a small nod when she met his eyes. The man, on the other hand, was short, stocky and chewed on a cigar as he stumped down the jet’s ramp behind the Professor and the woman. The man looked deeply unimpressed with _everything_ and Michael kind of knew how he felt.

“I am,” the Professor said with a gentle smile. “These are my colleagues, Ororo Munroe and Logan.”

“Michael Theodore,” Michael said, shaking the Professor’s hand and then Ms Munroe’s. Logan just waved at him and continued to look around with scepticism and displeasure. “I’m glad you could come.”

“Agent Wickham’s unfortunate state on his arrival in Westchester made this a priority,” the Professor said as they made their way to the base. 

Michael grimaced at the mention of his predecessor. “Is he going to be alright?”

“I can restore his mind,” the Professor said slowly. “But regrettably some of the damage that was done is permanent. I submitted a full report to your superiors along with my offer.” He paused for a moment. “She said yes, I presume?”

“For… a certain definition of yes,” Michael conceded. 

“Could you elaborate?” Ororo asked.

“She doesn’t think she needs the training but when her options were the training or getting kicked out with her magic bound, she decided she prefers the cushy life,” Michael said rather sourly. “I should warn you that she thinks this is all some kind of punishment or power play concocted by Tony Stark. She’s… obsessed with him but not in a creepy stalker way. More in a ‘I hate your guts and want you to suffer’ sort of way.”

“Why?” The question came from Logan and Michael refused to allowed himself to get startled by the man’s blunt, harsh way of speaking.

“She thinks one of his bombs killed her parents,” Michael replied.

“She thinks?” Logan said.

Michael paused for a moment then quickly kept walking before Logan stepped on the back of his heels. “Well, I haven’t had a chance to look into it yet but I wasn’t aware that Stark Industries actually sold any weapons in Eastern Europe. I never heard about them selling to anyone other than the US government and occasionally Britain and maybe Germany once or twice.”

“Wasn’t there something about someone inside Stark Industries selling under the table?” Ororo said.

“Yes,” Michael said with a nod. “Obadiah Stane. The revelation rather conveniently coincided with his death so the investigations that were carried out both internally by SI and by the military weren’t considered to be overly newsworthy. So I’m not sure if it came from him or whether it might have been a fake.”

“Is there a big market in fake weapons?” Professor Xavier asked curiously.

“More than you’d think,” Michael replied. “And Stark Industries weapons were the best so there was some good profit to be made from faking them.”

“I’d imagine there was some danger in the ruse being discovered.”

Michael waggled a hand. “Yes and no. There’s always an expectation of weapons failing and despite SI’s regular boasts about the reliability of their weapons, I doubt many people would have batted an eyelid if there was a failure.”

“So you can be sure that the weapon wasn’t a legally sold one but anything beyond that is speculation,” the Professor summarised.

“Exactly,” Michael replied. “And either way, I don’t have proof.” He snorted. “Mind you, even if I did have incontrovertible proof, I doubt she’d believe me. She’s determined to think of Stark as a villain.”

“Hmm,” Professor Xavier said thoughtfully. “That delusion sounds like it’s part of the problem.”

“It is,” Michael replied. “That and her complete lack of boundaries when it comes to using her abilities.”

“Yes, I’ve been contacted by Tony Stark regarding Clint Barton,” Xavier replied. “I’m due to see him tomorrow.”

“I’m supposed to be trying to get Barton back here,” Michael said. “But frankly, I think he’s better off with the Avengers.”

“Perhaps with Miss Maximoff gone, he may be inclined to return?” Xavier suggested.

“He might.” Michael grimaced. “But frankly, Rogers and Wilson are just as big of a problem. Rogers is just…” He sighed. “Delusional. And Wilson’s the world’s biggest enabler. Romanov is tricky but I can handle her. She just likes to think she’s the best and it’s easy to set her tasks that are _just_ below her skill level so she never feels defeated.”

“Huh,” Logan grunted. “Ego much?”

Michael chuckled. “Oh yeah. Her ego is out of control. She keeps harping on about Stark’s ego and… hell, I’m sure he has one. He’s a genius and wealthy and good-looking to go along with it but when she talks about it, I get the feeling she’s projecting her inadequacies onto him.” He paused thoughtfully. “I think all of them are doing that really.”

“Lang as well?” Ororo asked.

Michael considered that. “No, not really. Lang… well, he seems to be the sanest of the lot. Not that that’s saying much but he appears to be the only one who seems to have grasped how much trouble they’re in right now.” He came to a sudden halt and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’m unloading on you and I shouldn’t be.”

Professor Xavier chuckled. “Not at all, Agent Theodore. Venting is healthy and with us, at least you can be assured this isn’t going to end up on the front page of a newspaper tomorrow.”

“We also might be able to give you some advice, if you’re willing to take it,” Ororo said with a gentle smile. “We deal with students every day and are used to handling volatile personalities. While your group are adults, they seem more…”

“Juvenile?” Michael said dryly.

“That would be a good word,” Ororo said with a nod.

“I’ll take whatever advice I can get,” Michael said. “And I’ll thank you for it any way I can.”

The Professor raised an eyebrow. “I might have a suggestion that could help both of us. I have some students who are old enough to start taking on leadership roles but desperately need wider experience with… people who may be uncooperative.”

Michael looked surprised for a moment then he slowly smiled. “You’d like to send them here? That… could be very interesting. They have command experience?”

Xavier nodded. “They do, within the X-Men, at least.”

“Perfect,” Michael replied. “We could sell it as they’re coming here as a sort of exchange and we can swap round the leadership role in simulations and training. That will give Rogers and the others a look at some real leadership while not putting them in a situation where Rogers thinks he’s being usurped.”

“He’d react badly to that?” Ororo asked.

“Very,” Michael replied then he grinned at Logan’s derisive snort.

Xavier also smiled. “The candidates I have in mind will have no trouble allowing Rogers that delusion while still carrying out their role. They’re excellent young men and women and I would like to give them a chance to spread their wings.”

“Why don’t Stormy and I deal with Maximoff while you and Theodore sort out the details?” Logan suggested.

“An excellent idea,” Xavier said. Once the other two had left, he turned to Michael. “Do you have the authorisation to approve this or do we need to contact someone higher up?”

“Let’s go and see my boss,” Michael replied. “Though I doubt he’ll have many objections. This has the potential to explode on us so any help we can get will be welcome by all.”

As they headed back down to the corridor to the administration building, Michael reflected that maybe he didn’t hate his life _quite_ so much anymore.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint's got a clear head for the first time since the Chitauri invasion of New York. And a clear head means seeing where he went wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I completely forgot I'd finished this. I should have posted it ages ago. Anyway, have some sensible Clint.

Clint Barton would be the first person to admit that maybe he wasn’t the sharpest crayon in the pack. But then, he’d never been hired anywhere for his brains. It was his sharpshooting skills that people wanted and he’d been happy to go along with that. He’d always had people like Coulson and Natasha to think for him when it was really necessary.

Which, he decided in retrospect, was why he’d gotten himself into all of this trouble. 

Laura… he loved Laura (though he was aware that her feelings for him might well be up for debate right now) but she had never been a part of his work world. That was why he’d fallen in love with her in the first place and continued to love her even now. She wasn’t a part of the dirty, nasty, horrible world he worked in. She was… well, not _pure_ -pure because he knew what a deviously, deliciously inventive mind she had but pure insomuch as she was an ordinary, normal person who didn’t kill people with a gun or a knife or her thighs. When he was with her, he felt like he could be normal as well and he valued that more than words could say. 

Which, also in retrospect, was why he should have figured out something was wrong with him. Because when he’d retired and gone back to the farm, he hadn’t felt normal. From day one, he’d felt itchy and twitchy like his skin wasn’t quite the right size for him. So when Captain America had called, he’d leapt at the chance to feel… well, anything other than fidgety again. And Laura was never going to be able to stop him because she was normal and she wasn’t a part of his work world. She didn’t _know_. It was a stupid reason but then… wasn’t he the king of stupid reasons?

He sighed as he watched the numbers in the lift tick upwards. Today had been long and horrible and yet for all of that, he felt more like he had before Loki came and fucked up his life than he had in a long time. Professor Xavier had stripped the witch’s influence out of his head and had then frowned and asked him what SHIELD had done to help him after Loki’s little brainwashing episode. When he’d said nothing, the normally benign professor had sworn heavily then blushed and asked Clint not to tell anyone about that. Since he’d then gone and stripped out the remnants of the Mind Stone’s influence, Clint was more than happy to do so.

He hadn’t been sure what was going to happen to him once the Professor left but FRIDAY had rather snottily told him to get in the lift. He’d winced at her pissed off tone then winced again when he remembered the comments he’d made to Tony in the Raft and obediently shuffled into the lift without complaint. He’d expected to be taken down to the foyer and told to get back to Wisconsin but instead he was going up. Up was where Tony’s penthouse was and where their old apartments were. (Well, _floors_ really. Tony had kind of gone all out for them and they’d… kicked him in the teeth basically.)

When the lift doors opened and Clint stepped into the penthouse, he could only stare at the sight in front of him. The living room was full of people and from the sound of it, there were more in the kitchen. Tony was lounging on the couch, snuggled up to Rhodes, who had a familiar expression of fondly amused exasperation on his face as he watched the woman who had pointed out his brainwashing play Mario Kart with the crazy dude in the red suit. Who was not wearing his mask anymore and Clint started for a moment at the scarring before averting his eyes and going back to his surveillance. The two of them were eating potato chips out of a large bowl and occasionally throwing them at each other as well. He saw the other man who had been there for the confrontation sitting on another couch, laughing at the antics of two playing games, and there were a whole lot more people he didn’t recognise. 

And one he did. As he stared, a blonde woman he remembered was Colonel Carol Danvers, the head of the US Avengers, stood up and walked over. She looked somewhat unimpressed and rather resigned.

“Barton,” she said. Her tone wasn’t precisely friendly but she did hold her hand out for him to shake so he guessed he wasn’t in too much trouble.

“Colonel Danvers,” he replied, decided he might as well try and get off on the right foot here and now.

The way her eyebrow quirked told him that she realised what he was doing but she seemed okay with it.

“We’ve been talking to the people from Homeland Security,” she began and Clint lurched back a step.

“I’m not going back there,” he said, flat and absolute. “I’m not going anywhere near that witch.”

Danvers held up one hand and her expression was conciliatory. “We’re not going to send you back, not that Maximoff is there anymore. But.” She paused for a moment. “Your pardon _is_ tied to the deal with Homeland Security. We’re talking to them about arrangements but nothing has been decided just yet.”

Clint grimaced. “So what’s going to happen?”

“For now, you’re going to stay here,” Danvers replied. “We don’t trust Rogers not to try something to get the heat off Maximoff.”

Clint actually cringed at that then he frowned. “Wait… Stark’s letting me stay?”

Before Danvers could reply, Tony spoke up from where he was sitting on the couch next to Rhodes, though he didn’t look at Clint, keeping his gaze on the two playing games.

“Yeah, Stark’s letting you stay because unlike _some_ people, I’m not a dick.” He paused. “Also, I actually know what it’s like to have my mind fucked with by the witch.” He paused again. “Not that you lot ever believed me about any of that.”

Clint flinched at the reminder. Stark still wasn’t looking at him, was still watching the two playing Mario Kart, but _Rhodes_ was looking at him in a way he’d rarely seen outside of professional assassins. Then he remembered that, in a way, that’s what Rhodes was. He was a trained Air Force pilot who had flown over a hundred active combat missions. Stark might be a civilian but Rhodes was a soldier. And the look he was getting from Rhodes contained a lot of unspoken promises about what was going to happen if Clint put even one foot out of line while he was in the tower.

“Yeah… sorry,” he said, shuffling his feet.

“Are you really?” Rhodes said, sounding very sceptical.

Clint flinched again as he remembered what he’d said to Tony in the Raft. From the look on Rhodes’ face, he had been told about it and wasn’t impressed one iota. Clint realised that he was at a bit of a tipping point. He could continue on the way he had, blaming everyone else for his decisions… or in this case, laying everything at Wanda’s feet and absolving himself of all responsibility. Or he could stand up, _acknowledge_ that Wanda had been manipulating him but still take responsibility. Maybe if he started doing the latter, Laura might be willing to actually answer the phone.

“Yeah, I am,” he said, squaring his shoulders and looking Rhodes right in the eye. “Wanda might have been fucking with my head but I was still a dick.”

Now Tony looked over at him and there was a clinical assessing look in his eyes that Clint had never seen before. This was Tony the businessman looking at him, something he’d never really shown the Avengers. He’d kept all of that away from them and maybe that was why they’d misjudged him. Now that he thought about it, Potts might be CEO _now_ but _Tony_ had been in that role for the better part of two decades and was still actively involved in the company. And he remembered reading something about the phenomenally high number of patents that came out of SI every year, most of which had Tony’s name on them. When the rest of them were lounging around the Tower and later the Compound, Tony had been working. And all they’d done was hang shit on him about it.

“Yeah, you were,” Tony said flatly. The man in the red suit turned around but before he could say anything, Tony threw a chip at his head. “Bad Deadpool.”

Deadpool pouted and flopped over in Tony’s general direction. “But I didn’t say _anything_.”

“You were going to,” Tony said, looking amused. “And it would have been extremely unhelpful. And rude.”

Deadpool clasped his hands over his chest and batted his eyelids at Tony, affecting an infatuated expression. “You know me so well! It’s gotta be love!”

Jess gave a crow of triumph and Deadpool whipped around, swearing and groaning when he saw he’d died. 

“I will have my vengeance!” he yelled melodramatically before settling back in to play again when Jess grinned viciously at him.

Tony watched them with open amusement then turned back to Clint. As he did, all that amusement drained from his face, leaving it blank and cool. He seemed to assess Clint for a while then turned back to watching the video game shenanigans that were going on.

“You’ve got a room three floors down,” he said absently. “If you need anything, ask FRIDAY.”

Carol nudged him and Clint turned to her. “Come on. We need to talk about your options.”

Clint nodded, feeling more chastened than he had in a very long time. He was here under sufferance because the people here weren’t going to throw him back into the lion’s den. He wasn’t there because they considered him a friend or even a colleague. He had to wonder if their positions had been reversed if anyone on Steve’s team would have been even half as generous. He was pretty sure he knew the answer to that but he just didn’t want to admit it to himself just yet. Maybe later, when he was alone, but for now, he followed Danvers towards the lift.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am so bad. I finished this ages ago and completely forgot to post it. (I'm going through my WIPs and sorting them into some semblance of order so I an work on them.)
> 
> Tony and Clint talk and it goes so much better then either of them hoped. But then, that's what tends to happen when you pull your head out of your arse.

Clint sat cross-legged on the roof of Stark Tower and stared out over the city below him. He had a cup of coffee in one hand but he hadn’t taken a sip from it in a long time. He’d been here for two weeks now as various people argued over what to do with him and he’d found that time… illuminating, to say the least. He was living in an apartment, one of four on that floor, and while he was the only full-time resident on that floor, the other apartments were for the use of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, whom he’d already ‘met’, and a guy named Matt Murdock who was blind but still sent the shivers up his spine. The guy was enhanced in some way, he knew it. He just hadn’t figured out how yet.

Luke, Jessica and Matt had been there quite a bit, which he’d gathered wasn’t entirely normal. He’d guessed without anyone saying a word that it was because of Steve and the shit they’d pulled coming here. That Tony’s team were here to protect him. From them. Because they didn’t trust them not to hurt Tony. That had been a very sour piece of information to chew on but in the end… he couldn’t blame them. Steve had been coy about precisely how he was going to get Tony to ‘get things back to normal’ but he doubted it was going to be a friendly chat. They’d brought _Wanda_ with them, after all.

Clint pushed thought of Wanda out of his mind. He’d spent some time in the last couple of weeks talking to Jess and that had been enlightening. And horrifying. What she’d gone through was just as bad or perhaps even worse than what he had with Loki. At least, Loki had only wanted him for his skills as a SHIELD agent, not as a boyfriend or anything. That level of violation still made him shiver and when Jess told him she’d killed this Kilgrave fellow, well, Clint had saluted her with his drink. But she _knew_ , was his point. She knew what it was like to have her mind fucked with, to be unmade, and she was so blunt and uncompromising that she hadn’t allowed him to evade any part of how he was feeling, no matter how drunk they were.

And when he got angry and frustrated at what had been done to him, she took him to the gym and they beat the crap out of each other to let off some steam. Which was fun, if frustrating, because he didn’t heal the way she did and she was damn strong.

But he had gotten the message she was trying to pound into his head. He’d gotten fucked over, both by Loki and Wanda. Loki probably more so than Wanda. Loki had controlled, Wanda had influenced. Jess was of the opinion that both forms were bad but Clint wondered how much of what he’d done under Wanda’s influence had been due to her or due to him being a shithead. He’d spoken to Professor Xavier a few times as well and he’d been of the opinion that while what Wanda had done hadn’t been as controlling as Loki’s effort, hers had been more insidious. She influenced him to hate Tony and while his actions had been his own, they’d had her guiding hand behind them. 

It was the Professor’s quiet question that had finally gotten through to him – “Would you have done that without Wanda’s influence?” He’d had to answer no because he didn’t think he would. He’d liked Tony. He’d been uncertain about the billionaire at first but then he’d observed a meeting between Tony and Fury where Tony had nearly driven Fury up the proverbial wall and had ended up snickering so hard he’d almost fallen off his perch. He’d come to conclusion that Tony was an amusing, obnoxious little shit… a lot like him really. He’d thought they could be friends. But… shit had gotten in the way and then… Ultron and its aftermath.

Looking back, he figured that Wanda must have got her fingers in his head early. He’d thought he was the only one who hadn’t been influenced by her but… he was fairly sure he had, just not in the way the others had. Maybe she found the paths left there by Loki and found a better use for him. Professor Xavier believed that was the case and he was the expert. 

“You know, we have balconies and living rooms that are way more comfortable than my roof.”

Clint turned his head slightly. He’d heard the footsteps so he’d known someone was approaching but he was surprised that it was Tony. He hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the man since that day in Tony’s apartment and he’d expected that to continue.

“I see better from high up,” he said, taking a sip of his now-cold coffee. He didn’t mind though. He was used to drinking cold coffee on stakeouts.

Tony’s gaze was heavy but Clint was fairly sure he got what he meant. Then Tony sat down beside him and stared out over the city.

“We finally came to some sort of agreement today,” Tony said after a while. “Pending your agreement as well.”

Clint tensed and grimaced. “Yeah,” he said, his voice suddenly a little hoarse. “What’s the verdict?”

“Homeland Security is willing to pass over the conditions of your pardon to the Avengers Initiative,” Tony replied. “Which is an in principle agreement we’ve had for about a week now. The rest was coming to some sort of agreement with the team.”

Clint was genuinely surprised and he turned to look at Tony. “They agreed?” he said with open surprise.

Tony nodded. “Jess was persuasive and she’s got the most comprehensive experience with mind control so, you know…” He glanced over at Clint. “There’ll be a probationary period of twelve months and a few restrictions but I’ll get the paperwork to you when I get it from the Council.” He smiled wryly. “They’re probably all going to threaten you, by the way.”

Clint ducked his head then looked over the city again. “Yeah, well, I figure I deserve that.”

“You were mind controlled,” Tony said firmly. “And yeah, sure, a lot of what you did and said sucked deeply and no, I still haven’t forgiven you for what you said about Rhodey in the Raft but… your mind had been fucked with. Twice over, in your case. Sugarplum says I’m being too forgiving but…” He rubbed his forehead. “I know how much Wanda’s meddling fucked with my head.”

Clint hesitated for a moment. “What did she do?”

“Gave me a vision of another Chitauri invasion. One where they won,” Tony said bleakly. “You were all dead or dying, even Thor and the Hulk, and Steve told me I hadn’t done enough, that I should have done more. That it was my fault.”

Clint was now staring at Tony with open horror and shock. “When… when did this happen?” he asked, though he was pretty sure he already knew.

“When we went after the sceptre,” Tony replied and Clint felt an uncomfortable feeling ball up in his stomach. “That’s why I got obsessed with the sceptre and testing it and all that shit. Professor X says she didn’t directly cause me to make Ultron but she wanted me to do something destructive.”

“Fuck,” Clint said. “And we all blamed you for it.”

Tony shrugged. “You retired.”

“We blamed you for it before that,” Clint said. He rubbed his forehead. “Shit. Thor and Steve tried to fucking well kill you and we did and said nothing.”

“Clint,” Tony said, looking pained.

“No,” Clint said. “Fuck whatever you were going to say. No wonder you and your team want fuck all to do with us. We treated you like shit.”

“Clint,” Tony tried again.

Clint ignored him. “I mean, why the fuck are you even letting me stay?”

“I told you,” Tony said with amused patience. “Your mind got fucked with. Besides, what did you think I was going to do? Kick you to the curb?”

Clint winced. “We did,” he said, his voice heavy with guilt. “You left and no one tried to argue with you.”

“You retired,” Tony replied.

“Nat and Steve tried to convince me to stay,” Clint countered.

Tony looked at him curiously for a moment. “Why didn’t you? It’s pretty clear retirement didn’t agree with you.”

Clint grimaced at the reminder of how quickly and easily he’d upped stakes and run off when Steve had called. He’d tried to contact Laura since he’d gotten back but… she wasn’t taking his calls.

“I don’t know,” he said with a sigh. “I don’t know what I was thinking back then. Haven’t for a while.”

Tony nodded and looked back out over the city. “It didn’t matter for me. Even if Steve had gotten down on his knees and begged me to stay…” Clint snorted at that mental image and Tony flashed him a quick grin. “I wouldn’t have.”

“Why?” Clint began then he grimaced. “Wanda.”

“Yep,” Tony replied. “That’s why Brucie bear took off as well.”

Clint frowned. “What do you… Johannesburg.”

Tony nodded. “She fucked with his mind and unleashed the Hulk on Johannesburg.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Clint said. “I thought he left because of what Nat did.”

“Well, that too.”

“Have you heard from him?” Clint asked.

“Briefly, just after he left,” Tony replied. “It wasn’t very coherent but I got the gist of it. I haven’t been able to track him down lately so I think he’s hidden himself somewhere pretty deep.”

Clint gulped. “Ross…?” he said tentatively.

Tony shook his head. “Ross doesn’t have him, mostly because Ross is in prison.”

“Yeah, I heard about that.” Clint hesitated for a moment. “Why were you working for him?”

Tony looked at him like he was an idiot, which Clint had to reflect probably wasn’t wrong.

“I wasn’t working _for_ him, I was working _with_ him because he was the damned Secretary of State,” Tony said irritably. “I didn’t have a choice. If there was one thing I learned when I was running SI, it was that you can’t always work with people you like. Sometimes you have to work with jackasses. You learn to smile, shake their hand and then figure out how to screw them over behind their backs.”

“You were working to screw over Ross?” Clint asked.

Tony snorted. “Of course I was. I had been for a while, for Bruce’s sake. But until I had enough evidence to yank the rug out from under his feet, I had to work with him.” He looked pained. “I just needed you guys to _trust_ me. The Accords were _never_ set in stone but it would have been a hell of a lot easier to get the amendments through if the Avengers had been standing there, side by side.” He looked over at Clint with some irritation. “Do you have any idea how much influence and power we would have had if it had been Steve standing next to me with the rest of you backing us up?”

Clint didn’t have any idea but he was beginning to see just how badly they’d screwed things up. “But you did get them through?”

“Yeah, eventually,” Tony said with a sigh. “It got a lot easier once I had the Defenders on board. Jessica hates that shit and so does Luke but they’ve both been on the wrong end of manipulation and crap from other people. Jess from an Enhanced, proving that we can be just as vulnerable as ordinary people and ten times as dangerous if that happens. And Luke… well, Luke’s in the same sort of position as Bruce, except Luke wasn’t exactly entirely willing.”

“I know Jessica is strong,” Clint said. “But Luke?”

“Super strength and completely indestructible,” Tony replied. “Seriously, I’ve seen bullets bounce off him. I’ve seen him walk into a fire and walk out completely unharmed. Naked because his clothes weren’t indestructible but unharmed.” He smirked. “Who needs Cap when you’ve got Luke?”

Clint looked impressed. Even Steve was still vulnerable to injury, he just healed quickly. “What about Matt?” he asked. “I know he’s got something going on. He freaks me out a little.”

Tony chuckled. “Yeah, Matt’s very much blind but he’s got some weird super sense going on there. He’s been playing the helpless blind man around you hasn’t he?”

“Yeah and that’s what’s been freaking me out because there’s something about him that says that’s wrong,” Clint replied.

“I’ll tell him to stop,” Tony said with a grin. “Actually, you’d swear he wasn’t blind when he gets going. It’s kind of freaky but in a cool way.”

Clint nodded. “And who’s the guy in the red suit?”

“That’s Deadpool,” Tony replied. “Or Wade Wilson, if we’re being formal. He’s crazy. And I’m not kidding there. I don’t know what he went through to get where he is today but whatever it was, it unhinged him more than a little.”

Clint looked askance. “Is he safe?”

“Not in the slightest,” Tony relied blithely. “But don’t mistake his crazy for not knowing the difference between right and wrong. Deadpool’s not psychotic, just crazy.”

“He likes you.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Yes… yes, he does. He is the bane of my existence.” Tony’s tone was aggrieved but Clint could tell that he didn’t mean it. “But he keeps an eye on Spidey for me and keeps that kid out of trouble so I’ll deal with it.”

“Is there anyone else?”

Tony nodded. “Danny Rand. Or the Iron Fist as he goes by.” He sniggered. “And if you think I haven’t made every fisting joke under the sun, you don’t know me at all.”

Clint snickered. “Well, with that name…”

Tony’s grin was fleeting but brilliant and Clint couldn’t help but lament the might-have-beens that had been lost in terms of joking and pranking with this man, instead of alienating him. He couldn’t read people the way Nat could but he wasn’t going to assume the Tony he was seeing now was the real man and not just a front he was putting up for Clint’s benefit. He’d lost the right to think that when he’d made that comment about Rhodes in the Raft.

“And there’s also Dr Stephen Strange,” Tony continued. “He’s the Sorcerer Supreme so he’s mostly part time. And Hope Van Dyne or the Wasp, who’s mostly based on the West Coast but will be coming to stay here for a while so she can tear strips of your buddy Lang. She’s _really_ pissed at him.”

“Wasp,” Clint said. “I’m guessing she’s got something similar to the Ant-Man suit?”

“Yup,” Tony replied. “And her Dad made both suits and he’s even _more_ pissed off at Lang. So pissed off he actually buried the hatchet with me and I never thought that was possible.

Clint looked curious. “Why?”

“He hated my Dad,” Tony said with a shrug. “And after Dad died, he just transferred that to me for reasons I never really understood.”

“Oh, that explains some things Lang’s said.”

Tony snorted. “Yeah, Hope said Lang picked up on Hank’s ‘all Starks are evil’ schtick and decided to run with it.”

“Yeah, he sure did,” Clint replied. He looked out over the city and scrubbed his face with his hand. “What do reckon the odds are of being able to speak to my wife any time soon?”

Tony was quiet for a moment. “I’ve told her you’re here and what happened to you. She’s got the number for this place and FRIDAY knows to put her through to you if she calls.” He fell silent again for a moment. “If you want to send her an email, let FRI know. She’ll make sure it gets to Laura.”

Clint nodded, knowing that was the best he was going to get for now, though it hurt that Laura had obviously said enough that Tony was being cagey about her location and how to contact her. He hadn’t missed that he hadn’t been _given_ her email address, just told he could email her.

“She’s… really pissed at me, isn’t she?” he said with a sigh.

Tony gave him a quick glance. “Yeah, she is.” He sighed. “Look, I’m the last person to give advice on relationships because, frankly, I suck at them. Just ask Pepper.”

“I thought you guys were engaged,” Clint said with a frown.

Tony sighed heavily. “Yeah… we were. It’s… off. Though I’m not sure if that’s permanent. I think it might be. My therapist is letting me off the hook about it for the moment but I don’t think it’s going to last long, especially since I don’t want to lose Pep as a friend.”

“You’re seeing a therapist?”

Tony snorted. “Clint, I’ve had PTSD since Afghanistan that has only gotten worse with everything that’s happened. So yeah, I’m seeing a therapist. Besides, the Accords mandate a yearly psych eval and… while I didn’t fail my last one, therapy was strongly suggested. And by strongly suggested, I mean, lightly threatened.”

Clint sighed. “I guess I should see one too.”

There was a heavy silence beside him and when he turned to look, Tony was raising an eyebrow at him.

“I don’t know… should you?” Tony said pointedly and Clint sighed _again_.

“Yeah, I should.”

“I’ll give you my therapist’s number,” Tony said. “If she doesn’t work out for you, she can probably recommend someone else.”

“Thanks.” Clint stared at nothing for a moment. “Why are you doing this? We were… _I_ was a jerk. We screwed you over big time. Why are you helping me?”

Tony didn’t answer him for long enough that Clint thought he wasn’t going to at all. Then Tony hunched on himself a little before abruptly straightening and rubbing his chest. Clint hadn’t missed the fact that he had the arc reactor back in his chest, even though Tony was clearly trying to hide it. But Tony’s body language was back to what it had been like the first time he’d had the reactor there and Clint hadn’t missed that fact.

“Rhodey doesn’t think I should,” Tony said thoughtfully. “But my honeybear is a lot more vindictive than people think. He thinks I should toss you to the curb and let you suffer.”

Clint winced. “After what I said…”

“Yeah, Rhodey holds grudges way better than I do. I mean, I am holding a grudge about that but Rhodey is holding a _grudge_ , if you know what I mean.” Tony was silent for a moment. “I talked to Jessica.”

Clint snorted. “Yeah, me too. She doesn’t pull any punches, does she?”

“Not her style,” Tony said with a small fond smile. “But she knows, you know? She knows the way mind control can fuck you up. And she thinks there’s still something worth salvaging in you.” He turned his head to meet Clint’s eyes. “I let you guys in. Ask Pepper. Ask Rhodey. I don’t do that all that often. I’ve been screwed over too many times in the past. But I let you guys in.”

Clint winced, seeing the truth in Tony’s expression. He’d let them in, trusted them, considered them his friends and look what they’d done.

“Part of me says I made a mistake and I should cut you loose for my own protection,” Tony continued. “But what I’ve seen since Professor X got the witch and Loki out of your head tells me maybe I wasn’t all wrong about you.” He gave a wry smile. “I don’t have so many people I can call friend to just give up entirely on someone.”

Clint swallowed hard against the lump that had grown in his throat as Tony spoke. He was absolutely sure of one thing as he sat here. He did not deserve this. He did not deserve this man’s kindness and generosity. And yet, he was being given it anyway. And from Tony’s expression, it was with the full expectation that he’d be kicked in the face yet again.

“Thanks,” he said, his voice low and hoarse. “I won’t let you down again. Hell, you can tell FRIDAY to… I don’t know, zap me in the ass or something if I start being a dick again.”

Tony’s smile was small and a little shy. “Don’t say that. She’ll take a very liberal definition of what being a dick means and she might forget which side of your body your ass is attached to.”

Clint shrugged ruefully. “I’d probably deserve that.” He drew in a deep breath then let it out slowly. He then shifted around so he was facing Tony and held out his hand. “Hi. I’m Clint Barton. Archer, sniper, occasional asshole and maybe one day, an Avenger.”

Tony blinked and stared at his hand for a moment but then he took it, his smile wry but very genuine as they shook hands. “Hi. Tony Stark. Billionaire, philanthropist, scientist, occasional asshole, Avenger.”


End file.
